Newk’s – Groovy Green Hot Sauce Feature

Maple Syrup in a jalapeño sauce is a new one to me, but it gives an added sweetness to the sauce that would typically be filled with processed sugars of some variety.

INGREDIENTS: White Vinegar, Water, Granny Smith Apple, Serrano, Jalapeno, Maple Syrup, Tomatillo, Green Bell Pepper, Onion, Lime, White Sugar, Garlic, Sea Salt.

Another cool feature of this sauce is that for every bottle sold, Newk’s gives $1.00 to Portland Community Gardens.

One of the callouts I like is around color consistency. “Due to the lack of artificial ingredients, color may change from batch to batch.” Especially when you are a smaller hot sauce maker, it’s likely that the consistency and color can vary a bit from batch to batch. Our latest Ginger Reaper ended being a bit thicker than the first batch and the call-out around color is super helpful for those that are not familiar with the process.

Newk’s Hot Sauce Lineup

Newk’s Hot Sauce also carries three additional sauces (with a potential fifth in 2021): ‘Kinda Mild’ Pepper Sauce, Smokey Chipotle Sauce, and Hot Pepper Sauce.

‘Kinda Mild’ Pepper Sauce
The “original everyday ‘kinda mild’ sauce”
Ingredients: White Vinegar, Bananas, Red Tomatoes, Water, Habanero Peppers, Carrots, White Onion, Agave Nectar, Lime Juice, Serrano Peppers, Garlic, Sea Salt.

Smokey Chipotle Sauce
The darkest sauce of the bunch, the Smokey Chipotle Sauce contains purple cabbage, and beets, two ingredients we’ve not really seen before in sauce. Sounds interesting!
INGREDIENTS: White Vinegar, Jalapeno Peppers, Beets, Serrano Peppers, Tomatoes, Water, Apple Cider Vinegar, Brown Sugar, Onion, Purple Cabbage, Dried and Smoked Chipotle Peppers, Carolina Reaper Pepper, Lime, Garlic, Himalayan Sea Salt.

Hot Pepper Sauce
‘Kinda Mild’ but with a bigger kick from Carolina Reapers, the Hot Pepper Sauce is “a heat that is manageable.”
INGREDIENTS: White Vinegar, Banana, Red Tomatoes, Water, Habanero Peppers, Carrots, White Onion, Agave Nectar, Lime Juice, Serrano Peppers, Carolina Reaper Pepper, Garlic, Sea Salt.

About Newk’s Hot Sauce

In their own words: “Started the company back in 2019 after a successful Kickstarter. Cooking spicy food and hot sauces influenced from annual travels to Mexico (Yucatan peninsula). Our first sauce was the banana habanero, and the Groovy Green is our mildest sauce in the roster! It was just recently featured in Fuego Box’s subscription box.”

Newk’s is based out of Portland, Oregon, and has been selling sauce since late 2019. With sauces that are gluten-free and vegan-friendly, you know you’re not getting any sugars, strange chemicals, or unnatural ingredients. Founded by Jake Newcomb in late 2019, Newks got a shot to the arm to cover startup costs through Kickstarter. Asking for an initial funding of $1,200, Newks got $2,716 backed by 71 different folks. With that, they were able to cover the basic licenses and fees associating with starting a hot sauce business, including Food Processing License, Process Authority, and more.

Newk’s carries four sauces currently, with a potential fifth in the hopper for later this year. Each of their sauces runs at $15 and they post deals on their social media throughout the year.

In 2020 Newk’s was affected by the wildfires in Oregon, forcing multiple farmer’s markets to shut down and cutting into the ability to sell directly to customers in person. To try and reach the next level of production capacity, Newk’s tried a second Kickstarter campaign toward the end of 2020 but sadly fell short of their funding goal. Similar to Fartley Farms, Newk’s hot sauce took to pounding the pavement in Portland to deliver sauce directly to the people and continues to do so with contactless porch delivery.

Looking to get back into farmer’s markets, Newk’s announced on Facebook that they’ve “been accepted into the HAWTHORNE FARMER’S MARKET this Spring and Summer. That’s a new zone for us so we are looking forward to it!”

What started as a hobby for Jake Newcomb has become a full-time job and in December 2020, Newk’s Hot Sauce eclipsed the 10,000 bottle milestone. Newcomb outlined it further in an Instagram post, but what an awesome landmark in less than a year! Newk’s has even grown into the wholesale and retail space with their sauces in 10+ locations across Oregon, Washington, and Maine. They’ve also got two of their sauces (Hot Pepper Sauce, Groovy Green Hot Sauce) in the Fuego Box rotation. Pretty impressive for a young company.

In early January, Newk’s teased an upcoming sauce, that’s a vibrant yellow but has yet to release additional information. Possible we see a fifth sauce get added to the lineup in early 2021?

You can also find Newk’s at the following locations:

• Instagram: @newks_hot_sauce
• Facebook: NewksHotSauce
• Website: https://www.newkssauces.com/

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